AND JILL CAME TUMBLING AFTER
by
SIDNEY McCABE
© 2000
CHAPTER 6
It could not be denied that Nellie Davis had the face of angel. Blond curls that looked as if they were spun from silk, green eyes the color of pine trees, perfect creamy skin, a smile as sweet and endearing as a child's. She dressed in simple clothes, yet somehow gave the impression, through her bearing and demeanor, that she was wearing the latest Paris fashions. She was also kind and pleasant, a thoroughly likable person whose company Jimmy had grown to enjoy.
She and Jack appeared to be chatting easily, a fact
which should have relieved Jimmy, but actually made him feel a bit tense.
He wasn't entirely sure he wanted these two on friendly terms; not unfriendly
terms, certainly, but maybe terms where they stayed as far away from
each other as possible. Nellie's face lit up as soon as she saw him,
her eyes softening into a smile of welcome. Jack was carefully guarded,
but smiled at Jimmy.
"Hi, Jimmy!" Nellie greeted him enthusiastically.
Jack's echo was quieter. "Hi, Jimmy."
"Hello, Nellie. Hello, Jack," he said carefully.
"Jimmy, I came to see if you wanted to have lunch with me,"
Nellie offered with a dazzling glimpse of a smile. "I've still
got those strawberries we picked the other day, we can even have shortcake."
Jimmy dared a quick look at Jack, but her face was set and betrayed
no emotions. If he could have seen just a glimpse of something -- hurt,
jealousy, surprise, anything -- he wouldn't have felt so miserable.
But her expression was passive, at best. "I'd like to, Nellie,
I would. But I promised Maddy and Ben I'd take 'em for a picnic."
A flash of surprise passed across Nellie's perfect features and left
again.
"Well, all right. I guess I can save the strawberries for tomorrow."
"Nonsense," Jack found herself saying. "There's no reason
for you not to go along, Nellie. That is, if you don't mind a wild child
in your keeping."
"Ben's never been too bad, that I've noticed," Nellie said,
puzzled.
Jack and Jimmy cracked a shared grin.
"She wasn't talkin' about Ben," Jimmy said, at the same time
Jack said, "I wasn't talking about Ben."
Something in their shared moment of amusement, their simultaneous answer,
made Nellie distinctly uncomfortable. She hastened to reply, "I'd
love to go, if Jimmy's willing."
"Of course I'm willin'." Jimmy's answer was companionable
but lacked the excitement Nellie had hoped to hear. "You can ride
one of Lou's horses, they're gentle enough."
Jack stood and brushed off the dusty seat of her breeches. "I'll
go see if Maddy's ready. I think she got a bit tired helping Rachel
out. She went inside to rest."
"Where's Ben?" asked Jimmy.
"In there reading to her," Jack smiled.
Nellie murmured, "How sweet."
In the house they found Maddy lounging on the sofa in the living room.
Ben sat at her feet, a book open in his hands. He was reading to her
with surprising ease, carefully pronouncing the words and giving everything
the proper inflection. His months under Rachel's tutelage had paid off.
They looked up when the three adults entered the room.
Maddy immediately jumped off the couch and hurled
herself at Jimmy, throwing her arms around his waist and hugging him.
She bent her head back and looked up at him. "Are we still going
on the picnic, Uncle Dimmy? Are we?"
"I promised, didn't I?" Jimmy squeezed her shoulders and gazed
down into her excited face. "Now be a good girl and say hello to
our visitor."
Maddy dutifully turned her head to Nellie. "Hello," she said
politely, her eyes lighting up with interest.
"Hello," Nellie replied.
"Maddy, honey, this is Miss Nell Davis," Jack added. "Nell,
this is my daughter, Madeline."
Maddy beamed at Nellie. "Madeline Louis Kendall. But you can call
me Maddy."
Nellie chuckled and shook Maddy's hand. "Nell Renee Davis. But
you may call me Nellie."
"Are you coming with us, Nellie? Uncle Dimmy's taking Ben and me
on a picnic."
"I am, indeed."
"Goody!" Ben interjected, rubbing his hands together in delight.
"Aunt Jackie won't come with us, so it'll be nice for Uncle Jimmy
to have company."
Nellie blushed. "I'll do my best, Ben." She darted her eyes
briefly to Jack, but like Jimmy, she saw no outward emotion displayed
in the dark blue eyes. But unlike JImmy, Nellie noted the paleness of
Jack's features, the underlying clench to her jaw that betrayed her
feelings if only the littlest bit. Jimmy had never mentioned Jack before,
but Nellie knew there was more to this than he would probably let on.
The children eagerly grabbed Jimmy's hands and began dragging him outside
to the stables. Jack remained behind. "I want to be here when Lou
gets back," she explained. She kissed Maddy and Ben and waved goodbye.
Jimmy made quick work of readying the horses. He helped
Nellie climb atop Moonshine, the new palomino, and Ben clambered on
to Bunny as if he'd been doing it all his life. Maddy had made great
progress in her riding lessons but still wasn't comfortable riding on
her own, and so she was to ride with
Jimmy. Secretly, she preferred to ride with Uncle Dimmy anyway, and
had no immediate plans to change that.
They set out for the creek, Nellie perched unsteadily
in the saddle. She would have died before admitting it, but she wasn't
fond of horses. One thing she didn't have to admit was that she was
also no good at riding them -- it was plain by her bearing and unsteady
posture that she was ill at ease. She clutched the reins desperately
and dug her knees tightly into Moonshine's sides, keeping her back as
straight as possible, as if that were the only way to keep from falling
off. Jimmy noted this and made to comfort
her.
"Moonshine's an old horse," he said as he positioned Manhattan
alongside Nellie. They were on the trail now, passing the Hodges' land.
"He barely has the energy to run, let alone throw you. Just ease
up, let yourself relax. You'll do fine. Moonshine'll take good care
of you."
Nellie smiled nervously. "Do I look that bad?"
"You look like a sack of potatoes, Nellie!" Ben called out
helpfully.
Jimmy and Nellie burst into laughter. "Ben!" admonished Jimmy.
"Well, she asked!" Ben said over his shoulder. He had pulled
ahead of them leading the way.
Maddy was resting back against Jimmy's broad chest, a contented look
on her little face, her eyes surveying the land around her with great
satisfaction. She hadn't been paying any attention to the conversation.
Nellie felt safe in asking, "Who was that woman, Jimmy?"
Jimmy kept his eyes on the trail ahead of them. "A friend of the
family's."
Nellie sensed she wouldn't be getting much in the way of answers from
Jimmy. "I was surprised to see her at Louise's house." She
paused. "She seemed very at home there. She must be a friend from
way back."
"Yeah. She used to ride in the Express, like Lou. We've known her
for years now, I reckon."
"I've never heard her mentioned before."
Jimmy shrugged. "You ain't been around the rest of the family all
that much, then, I guess. Otherwise you woulda heard mention of her
several times. She's Lou's best friend, and Hannah's named Hannah Jill
after her."
"You called her Jack." Nellie's eyebrow was raised.
"Yeah. It's a long story."
"I don't mind long stories."
"Some other time." Jimmy's reply was harsher than he had intended
it to be.
Noticing the look on Nellie's face, he added, "I'm just not in
the mood right now, Nellie. And it is a long story."
Patience gone, Nellie fumed inwardly. It was bad enough she had the
ghost of his feelings for Lou to deal with, now there was a whole new
woman being brought into the mix. If she and Jimmy were ever to move
beyond the one kiss they'd shared, it was apparently going to be all
up to her.
Jill Kendall had seemed nice enough, a friendly woman who had been genuinely polite to Nellie upon meeting her, but Nellie nonetheless knew that she had to consider her the enemy. 'And if not the enemy,' she thought, 'at the very least a rival.' She wondered if her golden looks were enough to turn Jimmy's head when faced once again with Jill's dark-haired, pale-skinned beauty. Not to mention that accent which would definitely have an allure all its own. 'I saw your face,' she wanted to say to him. 'I saw your face when you looked at her, Jimmy, and I know there's something you're just not willing to tell me!'
Jimmy looked down to be sure that Maddy was secure.
She was fiddling with the pendant that rested on a chain around her
neck. "What you got there, sugarpie?"
"My necklace," she replied. "Mummy gave it to me last
week. She put her picture and my daddy's picture in it. Do you want
to see?"
"Sure," he answered, trying hard to keep his tone even.
Maddy opened the locket with a click and held it up over her head for
him to see. With one hand still on the reins, Jimmy grasped it and looked.
Magnus Kendall had been a handsome man with dark hair and aristocratic
yet friendly features. Jimmy felt strange looking at a picture of the
man who had stolen Jack from him, married her and fathered her child,
and now lay buried in a cemetery in England. Magnus Kendall had drastically
altered Jimmy's entire life, had been instrumental in breaking his heart,
and he had never even met the man. The opposite side of the locket held
a picture of Jack, apparently on her wedding day. She had a thin wisp
of a lace veil on top of her mass of dark, wavy hair, and a high-necked
white lace dress was barely visible in the tiny picture. Although her
expression was serious, her eyes not alight with the humor he remembered,
she looked beautiful.
"Isn't my mummy pretty?" Maddy chirped.
Jimmy nodded, unable to speak around the sudden catch in his throat.
He could feel Nellie's eyes on him. He coughed. "Yes, very pretty,"
he said. "But sad, too."
Maddy nodded matter-of-factly. "Yes, she was sad. She told me so."
"Did she tell you why?" He was desperate to know what had
caused the sadness in the beautiful eyes.
"Mummy said it was because she'd lost my big brother. I wasn't
born yet, but Mummy said she had had a baby growing in her belly when
she got back to England, and the baby died, and it made her very sad.
That's why she looks so sad in the picture." Maddy studied the
picture of her mother once more.
Only Nellie saw the look on Jimmy's face.
